Chocolate Frog Card: (Bronze) Aurora Sinistra: Challenge: Write a story during Professor Sinistra's Astronomy Class.

Gringotts: Hermione/Blaise [Hermione - Pairings], Astronomy Tower [Location], Modest, "I forgot how much fun it is to just kiss.", Marvellous, Important, Pity, "How could I possibly sustain a relationship?", "Most men are threatened by successful women." [Sex and the City]

Ultimate Hermione Pairing Challenge: Hermione/Blaise Zabini

February Event: 21. (quote) "To be your friend was all I ever wanted' to be your lover was all I ever dreamed." (Valerie Lombardo), 24. (word) Affection/Affectionate

Word Count: 692

"Psst," Hermione hissed, throwing a ball of parchment at Zabini who was in beside her. It hit Blaise in the side of his head and he stiffened before turning his head slightly to look at her with both eyes. She checked that Professor Sinistra wasn't looking at them and was still focused on her marking before turning her attention to Blaise. She waggled a bit of parchment between two fingers before sending it to his desk with a simple leviation spell. "Read it," she whispered to which he acknowledged with a subtle nod.

"Why have you been avoiding me?"

Blaise sighed, his stomach filling with dread. Hermione was brilliant; she was beautiful, smart, talented, modest, marvellous and extremely important to him. But he was a Slytherin with a tarnished reputation and she wanted more than just friendship with him and he couldn't give her that.

"I haven't," he wrote down before chucking the parchment back to her without looking. He heard the crinkle as it was opened and knew he'd met his mark.

"You have," was her response. She was also very observant, apparently. "Is this because I kissed you?"

Blaise's heart pounded as he thought back to their shared kiss. It was the best day of his life and he hated that he couldn't relive it.

"How could I possibly sustain a relationship?" he scribbled. "I'm a Slytherin who was on the wrong side of the war. You're the war hero. I'll be dragging you down. I'll be dragging anyone and everyone down."

"I don't care about that."

"I do."

There was a pause between note exchanges and he started to think that she'd given up but it didn't take long for the parchment to come back his way. If they kept this up, they'd be in detention for note passing.

"Most men are threatened by successful women." He whirled his head to look at her smug grin and he almost choked on air when she winked.

"I'm bad for you," he replied instead, not adding fuel to her fire. Any response he gave would never have worked.

"Let me decide."

"If this is you giving me pity in an odd fashion, I don't want it."

He felt her glare and didn't bother to hide his wince.

"Meet me outside after class," was her simple response before she turned back to her work. They didn't have much longer to wait and he knew it would be better to break things off with her before they even started.

"Hi," she murmured at the bottom of the Astronomy Tower. "We need to talk."

"I agree," he acknowledged. "We would never work."

She rolled her eyes before lunging forwards and upwards, her arms wrapping around his neck and pulling to lock lips. He stilled with shock before returning her fiery kiss with enthusiasm. It was only when she moaned that he realised what they were doing that he broke it off.

"I forgot how much fun it is to just kiss," she mumbled, touching her lips gently with her fingertips. "Fine," she said, speaking louder. "If you don't want to be with me in a romantic light then that's okay, I'll just have to find a way to stop caring about you so much. I've never cared for appearances but I suppose Slytherins care about those things more than most." She took a shaky breath. "I just thought you wanted me, in some regard."

"To be your friend was all I ever wanted," he said. "To be your lover was all I ever dreamed. Hermione, dreams are dreams, they don't come true."

She reached for his hand, twining their fingers together.

"We can make it true," she told him. "We don't even have to be one of those overly affection couples like Ron and Lavender were but we can make your dream come true; my dream come true."

Blaise stared at her, looking at the pleading and need in her eyes before nodding against his will.

"If we do this, I don't know if I'll ever be able to let you go."

"Just give me some breathing room, and you can have me forever."